Every season unexpected fresh and familiar faces climb the ranks to celebrity & super stardom. Sometimes it’s easy to predict who will land among the year’s most popular and successful.Other times a person pops up almost out of nowhere. Who will be the newest members of the exclsive club in the year to come? While we don’t know for sure, our Editor in Chief & Editor at Large have found 10 talents that we are betting on.
You have a film coming out, “Earth to Echo” in April 2014. Talk to us about it.
“Earth to Echo”is about four kids, who after receiving several strange text messages, set out on an adventure to investigate what is really going on in their neighborhood. I play Emma, an independent, ambitious girl, who insists on tagging along with the three boys. The style of the movie is really unique. It is shot in POV style, as if us, kids, were making the movie.
What was the most difficult part about playing such a troubled character as Caroline on Army Wives?
Caroline is very unhappy with her new family situation. She blames her stepmom for her parent’s divorce and acts out. It was difficult getting myself in that place emotionally, since I’ve never experienced anything like this. At times, it got ugly between Caroline and her family, and I was forced to push my limits as an actress.
What influences your fashion choices, any favorite designers?
My style is laid-back and casual. It is constantly evolving so some days I am classic and other days edgy. I get inspiration from fashion magazines, tumblr, and strangers on the street.
What has been your most humbling moment?
After booking and filming “Earth to Echo”, I went back to auditioning. Thinking I now had an edge, I expected to book a job almost immediately. This was not the case. Even though you get one role, you are not promised another. This business can be difficult so you have to find a balance in your life, however I love to act & I am enjoying every second of this crazy ride.
What else can our readers expect from you in the next year?
“Earth to Echo” comes to theaters in April of 2014, which I am so excited about. I am also waiting to hear about a pilot I recently wrapped.
How does it feel to be the “It Girl” and vixen of Blurred Lines, one of the biggest music videos of the year?
It feels pretty cool! I was really excited about getting to work with the guys and I’m so happy with the outcome of the entire project, very cool!
Most importantly, did you get to keep the latex ensemble from the video?
HAHA! I WISH!! But, hey, who knows, maybe it will end up in some museum somewhere someday LOL!!!
Any favorite quick tips and tricks for young working fashionistas such as yourself?
Sure! Smile, say thank you, be on time, pay attention, learn from everything, and work hard!
What has been your most humbling moment?
Being asked to speak on equality at the Oxford Union Society at Oxford University.
What can our readers expect from you in the next year?
There are so many exciting things coming out in the next year! I’ve been working on so many different projects lately and pretty soon I will be able to share them with everyone and I’m so excited! Editorials, commercials, movies, interviews, traveling, and living my life to the fullest every single second! Stay tuned 😉 xo
You’re currently starring in Perception along with Eric McCormack. Tell us a little about the premise of the show and your character, Max Lewicki.
The premise of “Perception” is ‘neuroscience’ meets ‘crime scene investigation’. Eric McCormack plays our lead character Dr. Daniel Pierce, who is an eccentric crime-solving neurologist who is diagnosed with schizophrenia. Dr. Pierce’s team is comprised of FBI Agent Kate Moretti (Rachael Leigh Cook), Dean Paul Haley (LeVar Burton), imaginary best friend Natalie Vincent (Kelly Rowan), and live-in teaching assistant Max Lewicki; that’s me, lol!
Max is African-American with a Polish last name (very rare). He’s a straight-shooter with honest intentions. Max’s foremost obligation is to assist Dr. Pierce in differentiating between reality and hallucinations. Even as a stern young man (taking his job very seriously), Max doesn’t forget to execute each daily task with a dose of compassion and sympathy towards Dr. Pierce.
From The Journey of Allen Strange to The Day After Tomorrow to Perception. How does it feel to be attached to so many noteworthy production?
Being attached to projects such as “The Journey of Allen Strange”, “The Day After Tomorrow”, and “Perception” has been awesome. I’m extremely grateful. My career so far has been very blessed.
You have been acting since a very early age. What is your secret to staying grounded while keeping what you love to do new and refreshing?”
My humility and success is attributed to my Faith, my Family, and good work ethics. I’m passionate about my craft, I love digging deeper into my acting abilities, but at the end of the day I’m an approachable light-hearted guy and I don’t take myself too seriously.
What was one of the defining moments that set you on your career path?
A significant moment for me was in 1996 when I landed my first series regular role on a Warner Brothers show starring the late Mitch Mullany entitled “Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher”. It was in that moment that I not only realized I could be successful in Hollywood, but that I could also have an extreme amount of fun.
What else can our readers expect from you in the next year?
In 2014, definitely get ready for more “Perception”. I’m anticipating a couple feature films. When I’m not acting I’m indulging in my second passion, which is music. My music producer name is ‘jus Beyond’. In the fall of 2014, I’m planning to release my first instrumental project entitled “jB Instrumentals, Pt.1 (Birth)” as a free download. Super excited.
You can be seen doing some serious ass kicking in the highly anticipated film Oldboy, directed by Spike Lee. Tell us about your character.
Thanks! I play the bodyguard of the villain. In Park Chan Wook’s version, it was a blond Asian guy. The writer Mark Protosevich made this character a woman. Thanks Mark! The change is interesting to me because there is this weird relationship going on between the villain and his bodyguard/lover. Kind of a sadomasochist vibe that people can imagine.
What was it like to work with director Spike Lee? We hear you had an brutal audition process.
When you say “brutal’, I hear a negative connotation. It was not negative at all! To me it’s all beautiful memories. It was my dream to work with Spike Lee. I knew his work of course but I met a wonderful human being. He is in constant conversation with his actors. He gives a lot of freedom. He’s always connected with people and he’s real and funny. I had to read for the part even if it was supposed to be a mute part, but I guess he wanted to know more about the actors reading for the part. I had to show some martial arts movements so I trained with stuntmen that I knew from Paris. I did the scene in front of the casting director Kim Coleman, and then in front of him. When I did the martial arts choreography, he stopped me and said “I can see on your resume that you did some boxing. I can’t really see it”. He was testing me! He wanted to push me. He said “Do you want the part?” I replied “Of course I want the part”! He said “Show me”. So I was shadow boxing and he was “Give me some kicks! Punches! Harder! Stronger!” I was doing those moves and was losing my breath, my balance, becoming red. It was kind of ridiculous! Finally, he said thank you. He asked me if I had seen the first movie, and I told him that I had seen the movie when I was 16. I also told him that it was one of the first movies which made me want to be “inside” and part of a movie. He asked me about my personal life and I told everything, but I was smiling huge like a weirdo because I was so happy to be in front of him!
I had been asked to come with a training outfit to be comfortable with my movements but he wanted to see me more of a feminine side because the character is supposed to be badass and sexy. He asked me if I could go home, changed my outfit, put on some make up and come back, and they would wait for me. I told him “Of course!” and he told me “We will wait for you”. I was staying at a friend’s place, I didn’t have the keys and she was not answering her phone! I decided that I would buy everything, I didn’t care if it was expensive because Spike Lee was waiting for me! The assistant of the casting director drove me to a store -she had my size of high heels in her trunk and I have tiny feet (a miracle)- and I bought a short black sexy dress with cleavage. I bought a red lipstick that I still have and it makes me smile when I wear it now. I went back in the room and Spike saw me and said “Oh, you look like a different person now!” I replied “Thank you, I look like a whore now”. I wanted to make him laugh. He asked me to read the lines again and I did it with some improvisation. It was taking forever! He finally said “thank you”. He said that the assistant of the casting director would drive me home, I didn’t have my driver’s license at that moment! I gave her the heels back and put my Nike sneakers on and said bye to Spike. I felt that something interesting happened! I was full of adrenaline. The day after in the early in the morning I got a voicemail from somebody I didn’t know. It was “Hey this is Mister Spike Lee, I will call you back”. I thought I would have a heart attack. I jumped and yelled on the bed and my girlfriend was freaked out. I called him back and he sent me a text message to meet me later. The same day, I met with him to have tea and a conversation in the lobby of a hotel in Hollywood. We talked a lot but I didn’t know if I had the role or not! I took my flight back to Paris and a week later I knew that I had the part!!
We understand you went through intense martial arts and boxing training for the stunts and fight scenes for this role. Tell us about that journey
I trained martial arts three hours a day for two months. I was sore every day. I spent hours with stuntmen to work on my kicks and punches. It was Taekwondo inspired. I had to learn three choreographies but we ended up using just two. The most difficult part was switching my sneakers with high heels. It’s really hard to keep your balance when you have to give a kick in high heels! But it was great to push myself that hard. I was stressed out about hurting Josh Brolin. He was great to work with. Always a nice word to say. He would come by my rehearsals to help me. And of course everybody has a different energy, his was different from the stuntmen – so when he was walking like a bull toward me, I had to readjust my movements with him.
What was one of the defining moments that set you on your career path?
I buried several very close men in my family. So from a psychoanalytic point of view I had “no father to kill anymore”. It makes you grow up quickly. No one has to tell you what to do. I’m not complaining at all. I also had a beautiful childhood and a loving family. But for sure it brought me to acting and most of all, being an independent woman.
What else can our readers expect from you in the next year?
I’m the lead role of a movie called “Hacker’s Game” by Cyril Morin. It’s a love story between two computer hackers. It’s the most borderline character that I had to play. It was great. I decided to die my hair purple for the movie to bring kind of a punk vibe to it. And I kept it purple since!